


Darkness Falls

by TeaGhost12



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 13,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25103149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaGhost12/pseuds/TeaGhost12
Summary: Mulder and Scully are caught in an explosion. Can they recover from their injuries? And how will it affect their partnership going forward?
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Kudos: 32





	1. A Raid Goes Wrong

“Go! Go! Go!”

Skinner lead a mass of well armed FBI agents into the empty warehouse. The agents quickly fanned out.

“North storage area clear!”

“Machine shop clear!”

Mulder kicked open a nearby door. With gun raised, Mulder scanned the room. There was nothing.

“Front office clear,” he yelled.

He moved out of the office and looked around at the mass of agents swarming the warehouse until he spied his petite partner. He gave Scully a smile. She returned it with a nod. This wasn’t their typical assignment, but Assistant Director Skinner had needed all the agents he could get for this raid. So here they were on an anti-terrorism assignment looking for evidence of a terrorist cell that was rumored to be using this empty warehouse as a headquarters.

“South storage clear!”

“Rear office clear!”

But it looked like this was either a false lead, or the terrorists had been tipped. Mulder scanned the shadows and dark corners of the warehouse. All that was here now was an odd assortment of rusting industrial machinery, random boxes of parts and unsold products, and the occasional rat who had decided to make this dank and dingy warehouse a home.

“Sir … Assistant Director,” called a young agent, “there’s something back here, some sort of device.”

Mulder watched Skinner enter a back room and Mulder followed him.

Between the many boxes littering the room, Mulder could see a group of agents gathered around a paper thin device with one blinking blue light on it.

“What is it?” asked one of the agents

Mulder suddenly knew exactly what it was.

“It’s a bomb!”

“You’re paranoid Mulder,” growled an older agent. “I was on the bomb removal team for 10 years. No bomb could possible look like that.”

“It’s a bomb! I know it is!”

Mulder didn’t know how he knew what the device was, perhaps it was some intuition that had served him so well on so many X-Files, but he knew.

Skinner looked at Mulder for a moment and then started barking orders.

“Everyone out! Move!”

Most of the agents rushed out of the room, but Mulder saw that the older agent held his ground simply shaking his head at the other’s stupidity. Mulder knew he didn’t have time to convince him. There were no numbers, nothing on the device and yet somehow Mulder could feel the countdown in his head.

12 … 11… 10

Mulder rushed out into the main warehouse room.

“Everyone out now!” yelled Skinner.

9 … 8 …. 7….

In the mass of agents exiting the building Mulder saw Scully.

6… 5… 4….

They weren’t going to get out in time.

3…2….

“Scully down!” Mulder grabbed Scully and pushed her to the ground just as he felt the explosion rip into his back.


	2. After the Explosion

“We’ve got injured over here!”

“Mendez and Johnson are down!”

“We’ve got more wounded over here!”

Scully awoke to the sounds of running feet, groans of pain, and yelling voices. The last thing she could remember was seeing Mulder rush toward her, him grabbing her, pushing her down, just as she saw a bright blast of light over his shoulder.

Now, as she opened her eyes, she saw only pitch black. Nevertheless, she could feel Mulder’s body on top of hers. She knew it was him, even in the darkness, because she could smell his cologne. But she could also smell another smell mixed in with it. It was the smell of blood.

“Mulder? Mulder!”

She maneuvered her body out from under Mulder’s weight, all the time being careful not to jostle him too much. Voices and footsteps continued to emanate through the darkness that surrounded Scully.

“We’ve got casualties over here!”

“Three down here!”

Scully heard Skinner’s voice cut through the din of groans and footsteps. “Get the medics in here now!”

Scully couldn’t understand why someone didn’t worry about getting the damn lights turned on. It would be a lot easier to administer medical aid if she could see what the hell she was doing.

“Mulder,” she said feeling along his body to try to assess his injuries.

“Oh my God,” she gasped.

Mulder’s back was one big open wound. She could feel his blood and flesh on her hands.

“Oh Mulder,” she whispered. She fought her panic as she maneuvered her hands in the darkness to find his neck. She put her fingers on his neck as she internally prayed for a pulse. It was there, but very weak.

“I need help! There’s an agent that needs immediate medical assistance!”

She heard some of the footsteps now direct themselves toward her position.

Scully heard someone kneel beside her and immediately he started yelling out orders. “We need to get this agent to a hospital immediately! We’ve got serious lacerations and burns to his back and neck. The spine is exposed in some places – possible severed. We’ll have to be very careful how we move him. He is losing blood fast! We got to move quickly people. We need a blood transfusion as quickly as possible.”

At this point Scully could hear that more people had gathered around her and Mulder, but Scully was still pondering the first man who had just yelled out Mulder’s diagnosis. How in the world, in this complete darkness, had he been able to diagnosis Mulder only seconds after kneeling down beside him?

As Scully was pondering this, she heard a familiar voice. It was Assistant Director Skinner.

“Agent Scully are you … oh my God.”

She felt a hand wipe her cheek, there was a wetness there. Was she crying and didn’t even know it? She heard motion around her. It must be people tending to Mulder. She wanted to help, but how could she in this darkness?

“Can someone just turn on the lights? Please, just turn on the God damn lights!”

She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and once again she heard Skinner’s voice. “Agent Scully…Dana…the lights are on.”


	3. Back from the Void

Mulder awoke groggy and in pain. At first all he saw was the white ceiling, he tried to turn his head to see more of the room. This time he finally could. He vaguely remembered other times when he had awoken, similarly groggy and in pain, and when he had tried to turn his head he couldn’t. His head had been constrained and all he had been able to do was stare at the ceiling until once again sleep overtook him.

But this time was different. He turned his head to slowly to take in more and more of his current hospital room. He had been in so many of these during his time on the X-Files, and like so many times before, when he looked over to the side of his bed, he saw his partner holding his hand. He had the vague sense that this time there was something different about her, but he couldn’t take it in. The injury to his body and the strong medicine he had been given were too much, and he once again succumbed to sleep.

This pattern was repeated on the days that followed. Mulder would wake. He would take in a little more of his hospital room and his partner beside him. Sometime he would hear snatches of conversations between the doctors or see glimpses of other people like Skinner or the Lone Gunmen. Each time he woke he would stay awake a little longer, but his body was still healing and he had a long road to go, he would inevitably be quickly swallowed again by dreamless sleep.

“The doctor’s are actually quite amazed by his progress. He’s doing far better than they hoped. Their biggest concern right now is infection, so they have him on antibiotics, hopefully he should be OK.”

The sound of his partner’s voice woke Mulder and this time his mind was clearer than it had been for a long time. He looked around his hospital room, and he saw Scully holding his hand. She was talking to her mother who was sitting next to Scully.

“Scully,” Mulder whispered.

Scully turned toward Mulder a look of relief on her face.

“Scully … what happened?” His voice was gravelly from lack of use.

“You were right, Mulder. It was a bomb. I don’t know how you could have known. All the experts that the FBI has talked to since have never heard of anything like it, but …you were right.”

As Scully spoke, the events of that day slowly came back into focus. He remembered going to the warehouse. He remembered the raid. He remembered seeing the device. He remembered knowing that the bomb was going to go off and rushing to protect Scully.

“You’re alright?”

“I’m…yes, Mulder don’t worry about me. You need to just focus on getting better. That’s all that matters.”

Mulder caught Scully’s mother giving her daughter a worried look, but Mulder’s brain was still too groggy to fully take it in and the pain in his body called out for an explanation.

“What happened to me?”

“You put yourself between me and the blast to protect me.”

Mulder could see Scully’s bright blue eyes well up with tears, but she fought them and regained her composure and continued.

“Your back and neck were hit by the force of the blast. The shrapnel ripped into your back and the heat from the blast burnt your skin. But you were actually quite lucky. There was some fear, early on, that maybe your spinal cord had been cut, so for a while the doctors immobilized your back and neck, but recent X-rays show everything to be fine. Your body still has a lot of healing to do of course, and you will definitely have a great deal of scaring from it, but otherwise you should heal completely.”

“How long have I been here?”

“A little more than two weeks thus far.”

Mulder couldn’t believe it had been that long.

“Was I hurt the worst?

“No. Unfortunately, three agents died in the blast. You and six others were placed in critical condition following the blast. Nineteen others suffered some injuries, but were placed in stable condition, and most are expected to make a complete recovery. In case you were wondering, Skinner is amongst that group. He suffered some lacerations as a result of flying debris, but at this point has almost completely recovered.”

Mulder had now fought sleep longer than in the past, but his injuries and the pain medication were once again beginning to get the best of him. He felt that it was harder and harder to keep his eyes open.

He tried desperately to fight off sleep in order to understand better what had happened.

“What else? Tell me more,” he begged.

“Mulder you saved a lot of lives. Thanks to you, and your call to evacuate the building, thirty-seven agents escaped the blast with no injuries at all.”

Mulder tried to continue to fight sleep, but it was increasingly becoming a losing battle.

Groggily he said to Scully, “Well, I am glad it looks like you were one of the thirty-seven.”

Just as he was about to fall asleep he could hear Scully’s mother voice.

“Dana, you have to tell him.”


	4. Learning the Truth

When Mulder woke up the next time, he looked for Scully, but today she wasn’t there. Instead there was just a linebacker sized orderly who was cleaning his hospital room.

The orderly noticed that Mulder was awake and looking around.

“Ya lookin’ for your wife?”

“Who?!?”

“The little red-head.”

“She’s my partner”

The orderly rolled his eyes, “Oh I’m so sorry. Your partner is down the hall with three weird guys gettin’ something to eat. They’ll be right back.” The orderly grumbled as he left, “Everyone’s so politically correct now a days.” Mulder smiled.

It wasn’t long after the orderly left that Mulder heard Frohike’s gruff voice out in the hall.

“I just don’t know why you don’t tell him.”

“I just want him to focus on getting better, he doesn’t need me as a distraction.”

Mulder than heard Byer’s voice. “He would want to know. He’d want to be there for you.”

The Lone Gunmen and Scully turned into Mulder’s hospital room. Mulder was surprised to see Scully on Frohike’s arm.

“My, aren’t you two getting close.”

“You’re awake,” said Scully as she quickly dropped Froheki’s arm.

“That’s right. Is there something that you two want to tell me?”

Byers and Langly glanced from Mulder to Scully. Scully just look down at the floor.

“Quit being a jerk,” said Froheki as he took Scully’s arm again. Mulder saw that she tried to pull away, but Froheki didn’t let her go. “Don’t kill a guy for being a gentleman. Have you seen the heels she’s wearing? I’m just trying to make sure she doesn’t slip,” he said as he led Scully to the chair by Mulder’s bed.

Mulder glanced down at the heels Scully was wearing with her gray sweater and black slacks. Mulder than looked back up at Froheki. “I pretty sure I’ve seen her run in those particular heels. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

The three Lone Gunmen were now gathered behind Scully’s chair, each was holding vending machine food which they each shifted nervously from one hand to another. Scully’s hands were empty and folded in her lap.

She looked up at Mulder with a pleasant smile on her face. “So how are you feeling today, Mulder?”

Mulder studied Scully’s face. Her pale skin, her blue eyes was all the same, but something was different. It had been different for awhile, but today was the first day he was awake enough to notice. He suddenly realized that while she was looking in his direction, she wasn’t really looking into his eyes.

“Scully …look at me.”

“I am looking at you, Mulder.”

Mulder reached out and grabbed Scully’s arm. Mulder saw the Lone Gunmen exchange nervous glances.

“No, you’re not,” said Mulder softly. “Please Scully …look at me.”

Byers stepped toward Mulder, “Mulder, don’t do this.”

Mulder’s sense of unease was growing. Something was wrong. Something was wrong with Scully.

“Please Scully tell me the truth. What’s going on?”

Langly stepped closer to Scully and quietly said, “Scully, you have to…”

She nodded.

“Mulder, I can’t look at you. I can’t see you. I can’t see anything. I’m blind.”

Mulder’s mind reeled. “What do you mean? You can’t …how?”

“When the bomb went off I was looking over your shoulder as you pushed me down. The intense light from the explosion burned the back of my eyes.

“No it can’t be. Your eyes are fine…your eyes look just fine.”

Scully smiled sadly.

“I’ve heard they look fine now, but they didn’t always. Apparently when Skinner first saw me, after the explosion, I was crying tears of blood and I didn’t even realize it.”

“But you’re going to get better right?”

Scully just looked down, and the Lone Gunmen shifted uncomfortably behind her.

Mulder felt his shock shift into anger.

“Why didn’t you tell me? There shouldn’t be any lies between us. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted you to focus on getting better. Your body was so damaged by the blast. I didn’t want you to have to worry about me.”

Mulder grabbed her hand and gripped it tightly. “But I want to worry about you. I want to know when you’re OK and when your not.” He pulled her hand closer to him, so that he could take her small hand in both of his. He spoke to her softly. “I want to be here for you. I want to help however I can.”

Suddenly, Scully pulled her hand away from Mulder’s and stood up. “You can’t help Mulder. There is nothing you or anyone can do. I’m blind! Nothing can change that.”

Scully began to make her way out of the room.

“Scully, wait!”

Froheki went over to help her, but she pushed him away.

“I don’t need any help. I’m fine!” She said her voice thick with tears. She reached out for the wall and doorframe, and made her way out into the hall. Mulder and the Lone Gunmen watched helplessly as she left.

Mulder turned to the Lone Gunmen. “What’s happened to her?”

Froheki sat down, defeated, in the chair that Scully had so recently vacated. “I think it’s just hard for her. Sometimes when we offer assistance she accepts it. But other times….she’s independent, strong. I don’t think she knows how to deal with this.”

Byers sighed and shook his head. “I know part of her didn’t want to tell you what happened, because she honestly wanted you to just focus on getting well, she’s been worried about you, but,” Byers looked sadly out the door and then back at Mulder, “I think part of her didn’t want to tell you, because that would mean she would have to admit, not only to you, but to herself that this is real. This is her life.”

Mulder bit his lip and closed his eyes to fight back the tears. How could this be her life? How could this have happened? He wanted to hit something. He wanted someone he could pummel. He wanted to know who had planted that bomb, and he wanted to have five minutes in a room alone with them – to make them pay for what they had done. He wanted someone to pay for what had happened to her!

The Lone Gunmen stayed a little bit longer talking to Mulder, before heading out. As they left Mulder’s hospital room, they saw Scully, sitting on a bench in the hallway, crying.

Froheki started toward her, but Langly pulled him back.

“She doesn’t want us around. Just give her some space.”

Froheki jammed his hands in his pockets and sighed. “This sucks,” he said under his breath. Byers and Langly nodded.

As the Lone Gunmen left, Byers glanced back at Scully and sighed. Why had all of this happened?


	5. Resignation

The next couple days when Mulder woke up in his hospital room, he kept hoping Scully would be there, but she never was.

How could she have abandoned him like this? He wanted her here, so that he could talk to her, argue with her, something. Somehow there had to be a way for her to understand that he still needed her in his life.

Although, Scully no longer came to visit, Mulder continued to have Skinner and the Lone Gunmen as visitors and Mulder’s body continued to heal.

“So these are the agents that died in the blast?”

“That’s right.”

Mulder had asked to see the report on the warehouse blast, and Skinner had brought it to his hospital room and was going through it with him.

“This guy,” said Mulder pointing to one of the pictures.

Skinner nodded. “Agent Vannatter, ten years on the FBI bomb squad was working against him. He didn’t believe you. He stood his ground and let that thing blow up in his face.”

“Why did you believe?”

“I guess I’ve been heading up the X-Files too long. I’ve seen too many cases that you’ve solved based on your intuition, your instincts. I couldn’t doubt them now.”

Skinner glanced at his watch, and tapped his fingers on the bedframe. Mulder knew that Skinner had come to visit Mulder on his lunch break and needed to get back to work soon, but Mulder sensed that there was something else. Skinner seemed nervous or preoccupied somehow, but Mulder couldn’t figure out what was bothering him. He was about to ask when his doctor entered the room.

“Well, Mr. Mulder, I think you have made great progress, beyond what could have been expected. I think you can expect to be released within the next week. You’ll have to return for regular physical therapy, of course, until the muscles in your back have completely healed, but I see no reason that you can’t be out of here by, oh I’d say next Thursday.”

“That’s great news. I know my fish will be glad I’m back. That is assuming they’re not all floating at the top of the tank right now.”

The doctor smiled and looked down at Mulder’s chart.

Skinner got up from the chair beside Mulder’s bed and headed to the door. “Well, I better get going. I’ve got a meeting this afternoon at the Bureau, but it is good to hear that you’ll be back to work soon.”

Skinner got up and headed toward the door, but when he got to the doorframe Skinner paused for a long moment, before finally turning and facing Mulder.

“She asked me not to tell you, but I feel like you have a right to know. This meeting that I am going to …the subject of it is Agent Scully’s removal from the X-Files.”

“What?!? Who wants to remove her? Why are they doing this to her?”

“No one’s ‘doing this to her,’ Agent Mulder, it was Agent Scully who requested this meeting. She no longer believes she has anything to contribute to the X-Files project.”

Mulder pulled the covers off of himself and began to get out of his hospital bed.

The doctor dropped Mulder’s chart and rushed toward Mulder. “Whoa! Where do you think you are going?!? I said you’ll be released within the next week. Not today! Your body still needs to heal.”

“Listen, I am walking out of that door today! You can stand in my way and cause me more injuries as I fight you and anyone else who wants to keep me here, or you can just get out of my way,” said Mulder with unmistakable intensity.

The doctor looked shocked, but backed off.

“Agent Mulder…”

“Don’t even start with me, Skinner, you know I’m not staying here. Now let’s get going. I want to stop by my apartment for a suit.”

“We are here today regarding Agent Scully’s request to be removed from the X-Files project. Agent Scully, I understand you have prepared a statement regarding this request for reassignment. Would you like to begin?”

“Thank you,” said Scully as she stood before the table of FBI agents that she could hear, but not see. Scully had no notes in front of her. She wouldn’t have been able to read them anyways. She had yet to learn to read brail. Instead, she repeated the memorized speech that she had been practicing at home for the past couple days. A speech that she had been working on ever since the day she had walked out of Mulder’s hospital room.

“I am here today to offer my resignation from the X-Files project. When Section Chief Blevins first assigned me to the X-Files, I was unsure that I could make any sort of contribution, but…”

Scully was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

“I’m sorry we’re late,” said Skinner, “Please excuse the interruption. Please continue Agent Scully.”

He hadn’t spoken when he entered the room, but Scully had no doubt who had just entered the room with the Assistant Director. It was as if she could almost see the look of betrayal on his face.

She heard Skinner’s voice again, “Agent Scully?”

Scully took a deep breath as she tried to regain her composure. “Um…Initially, I was unsure that I could make any sort of contribution to the X-Files, but as I began to work with Agent Mulder, my expertise as a forensic doctor, proved helpful. I was able to conduct autopsies and evaluate forensic data scientifically. We had an enviable solve rate, but more than that...but more than that I enjoyed my work with Agent Mulder.”

Scully closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try to control her emotions. She knew she needed to remain professional. She continued. “Yet, autopsies and the evaluation of forensic data rely chiefly on the ability to be a good observer. A skill I obviously no longer possess. I have come to the realization that I can’t in good conscious stay on as Agent Mulder’s partner, as it would detrimentally affect his work on the X-Files. He deserves a partner, who could truly and effectively aid his work. I don’t know if there is any work at the FBI that I would currently be suitable for, if there is I would be ready to accept what projects I can, but if not…I am prepared to leave the FBI entirely.”

Scully bowed her head as she finished her statement. It had been hard to get it all out, but now that it was out there, she was sure that Mulder would have to see the truth in it. She was doing this for him. She couldn’t help him anymore.

“Does anyone have comments on Agent Scully’s request?”

“Yeah, I have some comments.”

She felt her stomach grip down as she heard the anger in his voice.

“Agent Scully is requesting a removal from the X-Files because she can no longer conduct autopsies. The fact that Agent Scully ever could conduct autopsy was a benefit to our work, but not the reason she was assigned to the X-Files in the first place. Initially, she was assigned to be my partner, quite frankly, to debunk my work.”

Scully heard some of the agents around the table laugh. God, why was he doing this?

“She was assigned to the X-Files, because it was believed that her scientific background would prove a good counterpoint to some of my less than grounded theories.”

More laughter.

“So during her time on the X-Files we’ve argued and debated. She has question and challenged me and in the process she had made my work better, because she has kept me honest and made me question my own theories and explanations.”

‘You’ve kept me honest.’ It rang in her head taking her back to that day in the hallway outside his apartment. ‘You’ve made me a whole person. I owe you everything, Scully, and you owe me nothing.’ Why did he always do this? Why did he always want her to stay when he should be so grateful she was leaving? Why didn’t he see that she was just standing in his way? Didn’t he see that she had nothing to offer him anymore? Scully struggled very hard to keep up her professional demeanor, as she knew that the eyes of a room of FBI agents were still upon her, but it was becoming more and more difficult.

“To argue, to debate, to question, to challenge, these were the reasons that Dana Scully was first assigned to the X-Files, and a blind Agent Scully can perform every one of those functions just as well as a sighted Agent Scully. Therefore, I would see no reason why Agent Scully should not remain on the X-Files as my partner.”

The room fell into silence for a long moment. Scully gripped the table in front of her trying to regain her equilibrium after all that Mulder had said. Scully heard Skinner’s voice break the silence.

“This committee has been gathered at Agent Scully’s request. Agent Scully, this decision is yours. If you still wish to be reassigned, this committee will work hard to find you a new position. Given your skills and talents, I have no doubt that we could find you a position where you would be invaluable. Yet, if you wish to stay on at the X-Files, I agree with Agent Mulder, I see no reason why you would not continue to make a valuable contribution.”

Scully lowered her head. She suddenly heard the sound of footsteps as someone strode toward her. When he stopped, she knew he was only inches from her. He wasn’t wearing his cologne today, but she could smell the smell of his skin mixed in with the smell of hospital soap. She could hear the rustle of the cloth of his suit, and he was so close, she could even feel the heat that his body was emanating. She knew he was far too close for it to be professional, given that they were standing in front of a room of FBI agents, but she knew he didn’t care what they thought.

He leaned down and whispered in her ear so only she could hear, “Don’t …leave me.” She had been trying so hard to be professional, but this final intense and heartfelt whisper was more than she could take. She felt a tear fall from her now sightless eyes. Oh, Mulder why did you want me around? Why?

“Agent Scully?”

She took a deep breath and redirected her attention back to Skinner.

“Sir…I would like…I would like to withdrawal by request for reassignment.”

“Done,” said Skinner.

Scully heard the rustling of papers and the sound of chairs scooting back as the FBI agents began to depart, but even amongst all the ambient noise she still heard an intense whisper in her ear. “Don’t ever try to do that again, OK?”

She whispered back, “OK.”


	6. Returning to a Case

Moving her red tipped cane back and forth, Scully walked the FBI corridor toward the elevator that would lead her down to the basement office.

She knew that other agents stared at her as she walked. They, of course, assumed that a blind woman would never know that they were staring. But she knew. She could hear it. She could hear it in the sound of their strides slowing down as she approached or the pause in their conversation as she passed. Yes, she knew they were staring. But she kept her head held high as she passed and never let on that she knew.

“Good Morning, Agent Scully.”

“Good Morning Sir,” she said as the Assistant Director passed her in the hallway. There was never a pause in his stride, and if he was talking to his secretary there was never an uncomfortable pause as he watched her pass. Skinner treated her just as he always had, and she appreciated him for that.

She got in the elevator and pushed the button to her floor. She still hadn’t learned brail, although she was trying, but it wasn’t really hard to find the button to the basement. After all, it was simply the lowest button to the left.

As she approached the basement office she could hear Mulder talking to someone.

“I know how it must sound, Mr. Mulder, but I know what I saw. There is a ghost or spirit or something that is killing people at that hospital, and I am so sure that my poor Maude is going to be next.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Williams, my partner and I will investigate it. She is a medical doctor and together, we have a lot of experience with…well speak of the devil. Mr. Williams, I would like you to meet Agent Dana Scully.”

“Why, hello young lady, it’s very nice to meet you. I am afraid I am in your chair. Here you go.”

Since Scully had become blind, she had met some people who seemed to be kind to her out of pity or because they weren’t sure how to act around her. Yet, that was something in the sound of Mr. William’s grandfatherly voice that told her that neither of those was true in this case. He wasn’t being kind to her because he felt he had to, instead he was being kind to her because that was the type of person he was.

“It is nice to meet you, Mr. Williams.”

“Mr. Williams traveled all the way to DC from the state of Nebraska, because … well maybe I should let you explain that, sir.”

“Well, Miss. Scully, my wife Maude is currently in the hospital. I am afraid that she fractured a hip recently.”

“I’m sorry to hear that sir.”

“Unfortunately it does happen on occasion when you get to be our age. So I’ve been visiting her at the hospital as much as possible, and let me tell you, something is very wrong at that hospital. I should explain, this is a small hospital which serves the surrounding six counties. It only has 56 beds and one of the nurses told me that in the past five years only about 25 to 30 people have died there per year. But this year…there have been more than a hundred deaths and it’s only September.”

Mr. Williams lowered his voice conspiratorially, “And I saw it.”

“Saw what Mr. Williams?” asked Scully.

“Whatever it is that has been killing people. I don’t know if it is a spirit or a ghost or what, but one night, it was late, I was leaving my Maude and going home, and I saw it -this dark shadow leaving Mr. Jacobs hospital room. I couldn’t really make it out, and I didn’t really think much about it at the time. But the next morning when I came to see my Maude, they told me that Mr. Jacobs died that night. So I must have seen it. There is some angel of death, some dark-shaped spirit or monster which is killing people at that hospital.”

Scully sighed and directed a look in the general direction of where she knew Mulder was standing.

She thought she heard Mulder chuckle, but she wasn’t sure as he then began speaking to Mr. Williams again.

“We appreciate you taking the time and expense to fly out here to tell us about your situation. I know my partner and I would be more than glad to fly out and investigate.”

“Gosh, I can’t thank you enough! I’ll feel a lot better knowing someone is looking into this. I am afraid I better skedaddle. I’ve got a flight out tonight, I didn’t want to be away from my Maude too long. I look forward to seeing you both again real soon.”

Scully felt Mr. Williams take her hand in a handshake before she heard him depart the room.

After Mr. William had departed the room, Scully couldn’t help but shaking her head. “Mulder..”

But he interrupted her, “How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Give me your patented “skeptical look” when you can’t even see me.”

“It’s a gift,” she said with a laugh.

“So you don’t believe our nice Mr. Williams?”

“Mulder, I have no doubt that he is nice, kind man, but can you really believe that this hospital is haunted just based on his observation of one half-seen shadowy figure late at night?”

“Well, what about the death rate?”

“I’ll admit it sounds above the curve, but it does happen. The entire medical establishment in this country is being stressed, and even small county hospitals are being over-worked and under-staffed. Unfortunately that combination can lead to more deaths. It doesn’t necessarily mean that anything paranormal is going on.”

“So what, you think we should just leave Mr. Williams and his, I am sure, charming wife Maude on their own and not investigate?”

“I am not saying… Mulder.” Scully then sighed defeated. “OK, when do we leave?”


	7. Arrival

On the plane to Nebraska, Scully sat with her eyes closed listening to a tape cassette through her headphones. Meanwhile, Mulder sat next to her with a dictation cassette recorder as he read one of the autopsy reports into the device.

This had been a solution that they had come to since Scully could no longer read the various reports herself. Mulder had to read the reports anyways as part of the investigation, so he would simply read them aloud into a tape recorder, that way Scully could then just listen to Mulder’s taped version of these reports.

Scully would often kid Mulder that she no longer needed to hear his theory on the case, since it was now apparent to her what he thought about the case, based on what his voice emphasized in those reports as he was reading them aloud. However, she had to give him credit, he always read the reports completely, never leaving anything out, even things he didn’t see as important or that didn’t fit his theory for the case. She appreciated that he was still allowing her to come to her own conclusions on the case.

Scully stopped the current tape she was listening to, and took off the headphones. She heard Mulder stop talking and a click as the tape recorder stopped recording. She heard the light noise of pen against paper and knew that Mulder was marking where he had stopped reading.

“Mulder, you’ve read through most of the medical examiner’s reports on the deaths from the hospital this year. While there are definitely more deaths than in years past, almost all of these individuals were in poor health at the time of their death. The M.E., himself, doesn’t seem to see anything suspicious in these deaths.”

“But what about,” Scully heard Mulder shuffling papers, “oh here it is. What about Daisy Mendez? I’ll admit she was seventy-three so not a spring chicken, but her daughter, the hospital staff, everyone reported that she was improving. She was reported to be lively, cheerful, and apparently making plans for when she was released, and then the next day she was found dead in her bed. You don’t find that even a little odd?”

Scully shrugged, “Yes, but Mulder…”

“I’ll admit, Scully, most of the people that died, where in poor condition, but in at least six of the reports I’ve read so far, there was a great deal of surprise among either hospital staff or family members that the person had died. And even those who were in poor condition before they died, I mean, don’t most people go to a hospital in poor condition in the hopes of getting better. It’s not happening here, Scully. This place sounds more like a killing field, than healing ground.”

Mulder led Scully up the stairs to the main administrative offices of the Vermillion County Hospital. She held his elbow as he guided her up the steps. Since her blue eyes didn’t show any damage from her blindness, she didn’t feel the need to wear sunglasses, so at times like these, Mulder would see people pass them without a second glance. Only if they spied the white cane that she held loosely in her right hand, ready for when it might be needed, did they give her a second look.

Scully had not used a cane when Mulder was in the hospital because she had been trying to hide her blindness from him. Now that he knew about her blindness, she allowed herself to be guided by him when they were both going to the same destination, but other than that she preferred her independence and would often use her cane rather than ask for assistance. Mulder knew that Scully wasn’t a huge fan of the cane, and Mulder had been meaning to talk to her about another option, but hadn’t had a chance to bring up yet. He reminded himself that he wanted to do that soon.

As they entered the administrative offices of the hospital, Mulder saw that a small group of people was gathered in the office and in deep conversation. They quickly cut off their discussion as Mulder and Scully entered. A tall balding man in a suit walked over to them.

“You must be the agents from the FBI. I’m Mr. Barnes the administrator of the facility we heard you were coming.” Mr. Barnes then motioned to the other people in the room in turn, “This is Dr. Jameson our head physician here,” he said motioning to a forty-something man with glasses. “This is Nurse Lieberman, the head of our nursing staff,” he motioned to a stern older woman, who was eyeing Mulder and Scully suspiciously. “This is Dr. Carter our medical examiner,” he motioned to a young man with a ready smile, “And finally, this is Sheriff Snopes, the head of the local law enforcement,” said Mr. Barnes motioning toward an overweight man in uniform.

Mulder saw Sheriff Snopes roll his eyes as he looked at the cane in Scully’s hands, and then in a low voice, but loud enough to be heard by both Mulder and Scully, he muttered, “The FBI’s finest no doubt. I am sure she is going to be real useful as an investigator.”

Mulder felt his blood boil. Scully must have felt the tension in the muscles of his arm, because she gave his arm a squeeze to try to calm him down and then she stepped forward, head held high as always.

“I’m Agent Dana Scully, this is Agent Mulder, and we both appreciate any assistance that you might offer us in our ongoing investigation.”

Dr. Jameson stepped forward, “We, of course, would be glad to offer any assistance you need, but I must admit I am little surprised that two FBI agents would fly all the way out here based on Mr. Williams report. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice man, but he is old, therefore, of course, one would assume that his eyesight is going and his mind isn’t what it used to be. I just don’t see how you can possible see anything worthwhile in this old man’s wild stories.”

“Well, sir,” Scully responded, “you must admit your death rate is higher than it has been in the past, if there is something to Mr. Williams concerns it would be inappropriate for us to ignore it.”

“But this is hospital, deaths happens - sometimes more… sometimes less.” The Sheriff was talking slowly and patronizingly as he addressed Scully, as if addressing a young child. Mulder grit his teeth, he was finding it harder and harder to suppress the desire to hit this guy. “It’s sad… but that’s just the way it is. There’s nothing weird going on here, and I’m sure that you’ll figure that out too… eventually.”

With that the Sheriff left the office. Just in time, as far as Mulder was concerned, he had been on his last shred of restraint. Mulder could deal with the looks of curiosity and even pity that sometimes got directed toward Scully. He knew that, while uninformed, they were pretty human reactions to seeing someone in Scully’s condition. What he hated, however, were the occasional people that seemed to assume that because she was blind, she must also be deaf, dumb, slow or all of the above. He knew how smart and capable his partner was and he hated the ignorance that she sometimes faced.

Mulder allowed a low growl of frustration to escape his throat. Scully looked up in his general direction and gave him a smile. She, obviously, was trying to calm him and he appreciated the gesture. He knew that they needed to focus on the investigation at hand.


	8. A Concerned Medical Examiner

“Now your office is here at the hospital, isn’t that right Dr. Carter?” asked Mulder.

Mulder and Scully were now walking the hospital corridors with the young medical examiner. As before, Scully was holding Mulder’s elbow as he carefully guided her through the hallways.

“That’s right,” said Dr. Carter

“And your office hasn’t found anything suspicious about the recent deaths?” asked Scully.

“I wouldn’t say that. The increasing has definitely given us pause, and I’ve talked to Mr. Barnes, Dr. Jameson and Nurse Lieberman to see if there perhaps procedures or protocols that need to be changed to prevent so many deaths, but…”

“What?”

“Well, this is a pretty rural hospital, and they’re use to doing things a certain way.

I’ve suggested that we need better protocols to track the drugs that patients are given, that it would help me to better evaluate what might have gone wrong. But, well, they’re not really open to change…especially not change that is suggested by some young doctor who is just two years out of med school.”

Dr. Carter stopped walking and sighed, he then turned to the two agents. “Agent Scully, I heard you’re a medical doctor. Is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“Maybe you’ll understand…I am afraid I’m doing something wrong, that I am missing something, that there is an explanation and that I’m just not seeing it. That maybe if I was older or had more experienced …”

“I’m sure you’re doing your job fine,” said Scully with a smile.

“I hope so,” said Dr. Carter with a sigh as he headed toward his office. As Mulder watched him walk off, he felt as if he could almost see the heavy burden that the young man was carrying on his shoulders.

The agents then heard a familiar voice.

“Why look who it is? Look, Maude it’s those nice FBI agents I was telling you about.”

Mulder turned to see the balding Mr. Williams sitting beside the hospital bed of a plump gray-haired little old lady.

“These two young kids are FBI agents. My my,” laughed Mrs. Williams. “Well, it is awful nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” said Mulder. “I’m Agent Mulder. This is Agent Scully.”

“Why what a pretty little thing. I hope my Walter wasn’t flirting too much. He can be a terrible flirt.”

“Never Maude, you know you’re my only girl.”

“Mr. Williams,” said Scully, “have you seen any more instances of the shadow you described to us?”

“No, I haven’t Miss Scully, but I found out that I am not the only one who has seen it. Come with me.”


	9. A Visit with a Storyteller

As they approached another hospital room door Scully could hear a young man’s telling a story.

“...Truth and Falsehood arrived at the mountaintop. Falsehood turned to Truth and said in a loud voice, ‘I am more powerful than you! You will be my servant. I am your master.’”

Scully heard children laughing at the exaggerated voice that this storyteller had adopted for the voice of Falsehood. The children’s voices merged together when they laughed, and Scully couldn’t really tell how many kids were in the room, but her guess was that there were about five or six kids in the room.

“Truth rose up and spoke out, ‘I will not be your servant!’ They battled and battled. Finally they brought the argument to Wind to decide who was master. So, Wind blew all over the world to ask people whether Truth or Falsehood was more powerful. Some people said, ‘A single word of Falsehood can completely destroy Truth.’ Others insisted, ‘Like a small candle in the dark, Truth can change every situation.’ Wind finally returned to the mountain and said, ‘I have seen that Falsehood is very powerful. But it can rule only where Truth has stopped struggling to be heard.’ And it has been that way ever since.”

Scully heard a young girl’s voice. “Tell us another story.”

“I like the one about the Lion and the Mouse,” said a young boy.

“Tomorrow.”

“Ohhh,” groaned the kids.

“Sorry, but it looks like I have company.”

“OK,” said one of the boys in resignation, “we’ll see you tomorrow, Mark.”

“See ya,”

Scully could hear the patter of the children’s feet as they passed.

Suddenly, Scully heard a young boy’s voice right in front of her. “Why you got a white stick?”

“Don’t ask her that,” whispered a girl to the offending boy.

“It’s OK to ask questions,” answered Scully. “It’s a cane. I have it because I’m blind. I can’t see. I use it to get around, to make sure I don’t bump into things.”

“But you are not using it, now?”

“No, right now I have a friend here,” Scully moved her head to the side to indicate Mulder. “He’s making sure that I don’t bump into anything. I only need my cane when I’m alone.”

“I think I’d rather have a friend than a cane,” said the young boy.

“Come on, Roger, we’ve got to go,” said the girl’s voice.

Scully smiled as she heard young Roger continued talking as he followed his friends down the hallway, “I mean a friends could make sure you didn’t step in gum, or a hole or if you fell down, he could help you up – a cane couldn’t do that, yeah I think a friend would be better. That’s what I’d want.”

Scully heard Mr. Williams laugh. “Hey Mark, these are the FBI agents I was telling you about. Agent Mulder and Scully this is Mark Jordan.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“It sounded like we missed a good story,” said Mulder as he led Scully through the room.

“Well, come back tomorrow and there will be another.”

Mulder stopped and gently lifted Scully’s hand and put it on the back of a chair. She nodded to him to let him know she knew where it was, and she slowly sat as Mulder continued to talk to Mark Jordan.

“We heard that you might be able to help us on this case we’re investigating?”

“Oh yes, ‘The Case of the Shadow and the Mysterious Deaths,’” said Mark with a chuckle “yep I’ve seen it.”

“Where?”

“Out there, outside of Mrs. Hilfiger’s room the night before she was discovered dead. I couldn’t really make it out - what or who it was. They really need better lights in this place, let me tell you…”

As Mark Jordan continued to talk Scully’s attention was distracted, she heard talking out in the hallway. Since her world was now shaped by what she heard, she had found it sometimes hard to really focus in on one sound without getting distracted by other sounds or conversations.

She could hear a stern sounding woman’s voice, “Listen Snopes it is not that hard, if one of the doctors asks for Midazolam or any other drug that’s fine for you to give it to them. But you need to write down which doctor asked for it. I keep coming in here and there is none left. We need good records or we will never know when to order more.”

Snopes, thought Scully, that was the name of that oh so pleasant sheriff.

“I’m sorry Nurse Lieberman. I guess I just keep forgetting.”

That wasn’t the sheriff’s voice though. Scully wondered if it was someone related to the sheriff. Scully tried to refocus her thoughts on Mark’s comments.

“…now listen I really don’t want to make it sound like I think there is some sort of bogeyman wondering the halls of this hospital. I definitely don’t, but I’ll tell you. I don’t think everything is on the up and up. I know what I saw.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Jordan. It’s time for your pills.” Scully recognized that voice as the young man’s voice she had just heard in the hallway.

“Pardon me,” said Scully. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation in the hallway with the head nurse. Is your name Snopes?”

“Wayne Snopes, that’s right.”

“Are you related to the sheriff?”

“Yep, he’s my uncle.”

“What you do here at the hospital, Wayne?” asked Mulder.

“I’m a nurse. And don’t be giving me any dumb jokes, about me being a guy nurse, cause it’s no big deal, but of course, old hag Leiberman has got give me hard time, because she is queen of the nurses and thinks I can’t do my job.” The young man must have finished giving Mr. Jordon his pills, because Scully could now hear him grumbling as he was walking away.

“Well, I think that’s all the questions we have for you, Mr. Jordon. So I guess we’ll just come back if we want to hear another story” said Mulder.

“There’s one every day. It gives me a reason to wake up in the morning. Hey, I wanted to say, Agent Scully, you did a great job answer Roger’s question. Kids can frame their questions pretty bluntly, but you answered him kindly and honestly. I figure, for any of us with disabilities that’s the best way to handle question, is simply to educate.”

“You’re disabled Mr. Jordan?”

“Yep, I was in a car accident about a year ago, my spinal cord was severed. I’m a quadriplegic.”

Scully felt her chest tighten. It hadn’t been that long ago that she had been sitting in Mulder’s hospital room, so afraid that that would be his fate.

“After it happened, as you might imagine, I hit rock bottom. I felt like my life was worthless, I wondered why I was still alive. I didn’t feel like I had anything to contribute, anything I could accomplish anymore.” Scully thought about her own thought process after losing her sight - the thought process that had resulted in her request to leave the X-Files. Scully’s feeling must have reflected on her face because Mark Jordan said, “I wonder, Agent Scully, if maybe you understand, if maybe you’ve been there?”

Scully nodded slowly.

“But after awhile, I don’t know I started to get my hope back. I tried to think of what I could still do, sure I couldn’t play basketball or go hiking with my friends, but I had always been a storyteller. And I thought, you know what, I can still do that, and I’m still me. So I started telling stories, first just to family and friends, nurses, whoever would listen. But after a while, well it’s those kids who need the stories. Some are here for treatment - Roger is here for chemo, Kathy has muscular dystrophy. Some of the others are here, because they have a family member who’s here, so the kids come see me while their parents are talking to the doctors. I like to feel like I’m helping. I know it’s not much, but as I said it gives me a reason to wake up every morning.”


	10. An Evening Discussion

It could have been me.

Mulder was sitting in his motel room, surrounded by autopsy findings and hospital reports, but he found he couldn’t focus on any of it.

It could have been me, he thought. He hadn’t really thought about it before. He guessed that since the bombing his thoughts had been taken up too much by Scully’s well-being to worry too much about what could have been. But now he sat there in that motel room wondering, if it had happened, if his spinal cord had been severed as the doctors and Scully had feared, how would he have reacted? Would he have found some way to continue his search for the truth from a hospital bed or would he have given into despair? Mulder was scared that he could never have been as strong as that young man was.

Mulder heard a knock on his motel room door, and got up to answer it.

“Hey Scully,” he said as he gently led her into the room and sat her down on the edge of the bed. “You didn’t bring your cane. Are you won over by young Roger’s point of view, that friends really are better than canes?”

Scully laughed and gave Mulder’s arm a squeeze. “I figured I was only going one door down the hall and I didn’t really need it. It can be a pain sometimes. I’m still not use to it.”

“I meant to talk to you about that. Have you thought about getting a guide dog?”

Scully’s face showed a look of surprise. “Um…yeah, I actually, I did think of it for awhile, but…”

“But, what?”

“But you hate dogs, Mulder.”

“I don’t hate dogs.”

“You hated Queequeg.”

“I didn’t hate him.”

She looked up at him, her skeptical look was directed somewhere over Mulder’s left shoulder, but he was still amazed, and he had to admit pleased, that her blindness didn’t prevent her from giving him those looks from time to time.

“OK, I am not a big dog person, I admit it,” Mulder said with a laugh. He sat down next to Scully on the bed and got serious. “But I know you are. You loved Queequeg. I know it hurt you a lot when he died. I just thought it might be a good option for you.”

Scully sat there thinking for a moment. “It might take some time. My mom looked into it when I first went blind. The dogs have to be specially trained, she said there can be a long waiting list, but maybe…are you sure you’d be OK with it? He’d be in the basement office with us. He would come with me wherever I go. I just don’t want it to be uncomfortable for you.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. I’d be fine with it. Don’t even worry about me. I just want to do whatever will make this easier for you.” He reached over and touched his hand to her cheek. She leaned into the caress. She closed her eyes and then opened them again and for a moment, he would have sworn she could see him. Moments like that always broke his heart a little.

“Although, if I was really going to make life easier for you, I would have followed my gut desire this morning and punched out Sheriff Snopes.”

“And here I thought you liked him,” said Scully with a playful smile.

“People like that…”

“Mulder, there is always a risk that I am going to meet people who are going to think less of me just because I’m blind. Even before I was blind, I faced my share of FBI supervisors, who thought less of me because I was a woman. I noticed this morning that Dr. Jameson didn’t seem to give Mr. Williams any respect simply because he was older, but at the same time, poor Dr. Carter can’t get any respect for his suggestions just because he is younger. And how many people would underestimate Mark Jordan and not appreciate all that he can contribute?”

Scully sighed. “There are always going to be ignorant people in the world with their definitions of who deserves respect … and who doesn’t.”

Mulder reached over and took Scully’s hand and held it tightly. “I guess I never realized before. Never understood why you were ready to walk away from the X-Files after you were blinded. Was it like Mark said, did you really feel like you couldn’t make a contribution?”

Scully nodded. “Mulder, right after I lost my sight, I just focused on my limitations. All the things that had been taken away from me, the things I couldn’t do anymore, conducting autopsies, reading case reports, all of it. I honestly went into that hearing thinking all of you would appreciate me stepping down, that you hadn’t figured out how to diplomatically tell me that I couldn’t do my job anymore. I was so surprised that you could still see me as valuable.”

Mulder saw that Scully’s eyes were tearing up.

“What about now? Do you understand that you make a contribution, and always will?”

“Honestly, I don’t know that I am there one hundred percent, but I am getting there. It just takes time.” Scully got up from the bed and slowly and carefully made her way to the hotel room door. She opened the door and said, “Mulder, if I haven’t said it before, thank you, for what you did that day at the hearing – thank you for seeing in me what I couldn’t see in myself”

Mulder watched Scully carefully close the door behind her.


	11. A Sad Little Boy

As Mulder and Scully approached the Vermillion County Hospital, the following morning, Mulder noticed a little boy on the steps crying. He had a bald head, undoubtedly from the chemo, and Mulder recognized him as Roger, the little boy who had asked Scully about her cane.

“Hey Roger, you OK?”

But instead of answering Mulder, Roger looked at Scully.

“Hi, you’re still using your friend and not your cane. That’s what I would do if I was blind.”

“Are you OK, Roger?” asked Scully kindly.

“I lost my friend,” he said in a tear-filled voice.

“What do you mean?”

Mulder watched Roger wipe his nose on his sleeve and then continue, “The man who told the stories, Mark, he went away last night. He died.”

Mulder took a long deep breath. He couldn’t believe it was true. Mulder felt Scully steady herself on his arm. He looked over at her and she looked pale with shock.

“I think I’m going to die too,” said the little boy as he started to cry again. “The monster is going to get me too.”

Scully let go of Mulder’s arm and careful knelt down. She gently put her hand out in front of her until she touched the little boy.

“Listen Roger, Mulder and I, my friend and I, we’re here to figure out what’s going on – why so many people are dying – we won’t let anyone hurt you. OK?”

Scully could be quite motherly and Mulder watched as Roger got up and leaned into her arms for a much needed hug. Scully smiled as she held the young boy.


	12. Putting the Pieces Together

“You admit that you haven’t found anything suspicious in your examination, so what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that Mark Jordan was healthy there is no reason he should have died.”

Long before they got to the basement ME’s office, Mulder and Scully could hear the violent argument between Dr. Carter and Sheriff Snopes.

“Healthy,” scoffed the Sheriff, “you’ve got to be kidding me boy, the guy couldn’t move his arms and legs.”

“Just because he was quadriplegic, doesn’t mean that he was in any risk of dying. The biggest health risks for quadriplegics are bed sores and infections. I am finding no indication of either.”

Sheriff Snopes looked at the door as Mulder and Scully entered. The sheriff picked up his hat and headed for the door. “There is nothing suspicious about this death, just like there is nothing suspicious about the others if any of you had some brains you realize that instead of thinking there is some shadowy monster killing everyone.” The Sheriff stomped out.

Mulder saw the young Dr. Carter collapse into a chair, his head in his hands.

“How goes the examination?” asked Mulder kindly.

“Mr. Jordan was found dead at 7:45 this morning. I’ve determined that he died sometime around 10:30 last night, but Dr. Scully … I’ve done a physical examination, blood work. I’ve done every test I can think of, I’ve been as thorough as I can, but I can’t figure out what killed him.”

Dr. Carter got up from the chair and kicked a nearby trash can in frustration.

“I’m beginning to believe these rumors. Maybe people are right, maybe there is some monster or ghost that’s killing people,” he said with a frustrated chuckle.

He walked over to a nearby table. His head dropped. His voice was barely above a whisper. “You’ve got to help me. Dr. Scully, what am I missing? I know without a doubt that Mark Jordan didn’t die a natural death, but what did kill him … I just can’t figure it out.”

“ME’s report dated, May 10th, name of deceased Oliver Brooks. Time of death estimated to be 9:45 pm. Deceased was found at 7:22 am, by orderly Kim Kronner. Staff on duty at the time of Mr. Brooks’ death: Dr. Jameson, Dr. Kirkland, Dr. Walker, Nurse Bells, Nurse Griffith, Nurse Snopes, and Nurse Stewart…”

Scully was back in her hotel room reviewing the audio cassette versions of the various medical reports. She was listening for anything that could help Dr. Carter in his investigation. Scully felt so helpless. She wanted to be helping with the autopsy, blood tests, something. She felt so useless, sitting in this hospital room reviewing old reports.

“ME’s report dated, June 14th, name of deceased Mary Higgenbath. Time of death estimated to be 11:15 pm. Deceased was found at 7:45 am, by Dr. Higgens. Staff on duty at the time of Ms. Higgenbath’s death: Dr. Allen, Dr. Jameson, Dr. Waters, Nurse Gring, Nurse Reilly, Nurse Snopes, and Nurse Stallman…”

Mulder was currently searching the hospital. He had told her that he was looking for clues, but Scully was not fooled. She knew he expected to come across whatever monster or ghost that was doing this.

“ME’s report dated, August 23rd, name of deceased Eric Dishman. Time of death estimated to be 10:40 pm. Decreased was found at 6:55 am, by Nurse Simms. Staff on duty at the time of Mr. Dishman’s death: Dr. Kent, Dr. Kirkland, Dr. Godier, Nurse Evans, Nurse Miller, Nurse Snopes, and Nurse Zhang…”

Suddenly Scully focused on the tape she was listening to, she rewound the recording at listen again. “Staff on duty at the time of Mr. Dishman’s death: Dr. Kent, Dr. Kirkland, Dr. Godier, Nurse Evans, Nurse Miller, Nurse Snopes, and Nurse Zhang…”

Scully grabbed for some of the other tapes. She cursed as she tried to find the tapes she wanted. She needed to learn brail if only to organize these darn things. She stuck another tape into the recorder “…of death estimated to be 9:50 pm. Deceased was found at 7:20 but orderly Jim Conners. Staff on duty at the time of Ms. Stewart’s death: Dr. Evens, Dr. Forest, Dr Klien, Nurse Fields, Nurse Locke, Nurse Snopes, Nurse Waters.”

Scully shut off the recorder as a conversation she had overheard came back to her. “Oh my God,” said Scully aloud as the pieces fell into place. She knew what was happening. She knew why people were dying. She grabbed for her cane.

What time was it she wondered? She knew she had been in this motel room for hours reviewing reports, but she had lost track of time. It had to be getting late. Would it happen again tonight? Could she prevent it? She quickly headed out of her hotel room and back to the hospital.


	13. A Late Night Fight with a Monster

“Oww!” cried out Scully. She had been trying to go too fast and hadn’t picked up on the fact that this portion of the sidewalk was uneven and rocky. “Damn!” She felt for her cane which had luckily only rolled a foot or two away from where she fell. She pulled herself up. She knew her knee was bleeding, but she wouldn’t stop to tend to it. She knew she was only about twenty feet from the hospital door.

“Hello! Hello!” Scully called out as she entered the hospital. She got no response. It must be after hours. She knew that fewer of the staff were on duty after hours. She also knew this is when all of the murders had taken place. Could she prevent it?

She walked with determination down the hall. She remembered the path Mulder had led her on to get to the ME’s office. Dr. Carter would still be in. She was sure of it. He would still be trying to figure this out. She walked toward his basement office.

Scully’s heels clicked along the tile floor in time with the sound of the soft taps of her cane. But there was another sound. Scully stopped.

“Hello?”

She listened for a moment. She started to walk again, but then stopped. When she walked she could distinctly hear two sets of footsteps, one was hers and one was someone else’s.

“Who’s there?”

There was no response. But as Scully stood silently in the abandoned hospital hallway, she could hear the soft sound of someone’s breathing. Scully reached under her suit coat for her gun, but just as she had gotten a hold of it, he rushed forward and pushed her against a wall knocking the gun out of her hand.

“Poor little blind girl. Someone should put you out of your misery.”

Scully felt the sheriff’s nephew, Wayne Snopes’ arm against her chest pinning her against the wall, with his other hand he was trying to pull the cane from Scully’s grasp.

“Is that what you think you are doing Wayne? Putting them out of their misery.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said with a menacing chuckle.

“You’re the only commonality, Wayne, the only Nurse who was always on duty when all of the victims died. I overheard your conversation with head nurse Lieberman. She was confronting you about some missing Midazolam. Midazolam is a power sedative. Too much of it can result in death, but it can only be detected for 8 hours after it’s administer, thus why it didn’t show up in the ME’s blood screening the following morning.”

Nurse Wayne Snopes managed to pull the cane from Scully’s tight grip. She heard the cane clatter to the floor. Wayne Snopes backed off from Scully. He began to slowly pace around her. She listened to his voice to follow his movements.

“I was doing those folks a favor. I’m an angel of mercy. Here to answer their prayers. Some people don’t want to live no more.”

“Mark Jordan didn’t ask to die, and I doubt that any of the others did either. You didn’t kill them out of mercy. You killed them because you had made the decision that there lives had no meaning. Who were you to decide that?”

“I could decide that for you.” Scully sensed Wayne had stepped closer to her, based on the footfalls on the tile Scully could sense that Wayne was only a foot and half away from her as he paced back and forth close in front of her.

“That Midazolam, you mentioned, I got some right here. I could make things easier for you.”

“What if I don’t want to die?”

Scully remembered what it had felt like when Wayne had put his arm across her chest. She combined all the clues that her observant mind had picked up on about Wayne’s stature and filled in the blanks with her knowledge of human anatomy and the natural proportions of the human body. Wayne wasn’t that tall, not like Mulder, probably about 5’8. Scully pictured Wayne in her head.

“What if you don’t want to die?” Wayne chuckled. “Now, what in the world, are you going to do about it? You got no weapon, no big burly partner, no cane, no sight, no nothing. Take all that away and what do you got left.”

Scully looked up at the sound of Wayne’s voice. She pictured her attacker completely.

“I still have me.”

Scully’s left fist connected solidly with Wayne Snopes’ jaw, and she heard him crash to the floor.

Scully rushed away from the fallen Wayne and toward the area of the hallway where her gun had fallen. She felt the tip of her right shoe make conduct with something and she bent down to retrieve it, but Wayne had recovered from Scully’s punch and rushed at her.

He pushed her to the floor. Scully tried to reach for her gun, but it was slightly out of her grasp. Wayne tried to pin Scully to the floor, but Scully reached out and scratched at Wayne’s face. He cried out in pain and punched her across the face.

Things were more hectic now, but Scully forced her mind to calm down and reconstruct the picture of Wayne to aid her in her attack. She kneed him hard. She didn’t manage to hit his groin, but she did managed to hit him hard enough in the thigh that he groaned in pain and she used that opportunity to roll out of his grasp.

She quickly stood up, but in a second he was standing as well, pushing her hard against the wall. There must have been a window or something right behind her because she felt glass break and bury itself into her back as he pushed her against the wall. She again worked hard to reconstruct the picture of her attacker, and she managed to aim a kick to his shins. Once again he groaned in pain, and punched her hard in the ribs.

But this wasn’t a window behind her. Her mind was still working even as her body continued to try to defend herself. It was a box, about the size of her torso, with glass on the outside which had broken. She pictured it. “In case of fire break glass.” And inside of those boxes, there is only one of three things, an axe, a hose or…

Scully kicked Wayne hard. He went reeling backwards. Scully twisted around and grabbed the item behind her just as Wayne raced forward.

Bang! The fire extinguisher in Scully’s hands made contact with Wayne and this time when he fell he didn’t get up again.

Scully could hear the sound of footsteps racing toward her. She leaned forward trying to catch her breath. The heavy fire extinguisher fell from her weakened hands and hit the floor with a clank.

“We need some help down here!” yelled Dr. Carter

“Oh my God! What happened here?” cried out Nurse Leiberman.

Scully felt her battered body start to slide toward the floor until two strong arms stopped her descent. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you. Oh God, Scully. It’s going to be OK,” Mulder whispered softly. “It’s going to be OK.” He gently cradled her in his arms.


	14. Finding a Reason to Stay

“There is no way my nephew could have done this. He just couldn’t,” said Sheriff Snopes in shocked disbelief.

“We found a syringe of Midazolam on Wayne while we were tending to his wounds,” said Dr. Jamison, “the syringe contained four times a lethal dosage of the drug.”

Dr. Carter entered the room, “We just had security open, Wayne Snopes’ locker, not only were their stolen vials of Midazolam in there, but also digoxin, which a heart medicine, Pavulon and Anetine which are paralyzing drugs, along with lidocaine, epinephrine, potassium chloride and about half a dozen other drugs all of which can be lethal when administered in high enough doses.”

“I just can’t believe it,” said Sheriff Snopes shaking his head.

“Believe it,” said Mulder stepping forward. “People saw a dark figure exiting the rooms of the patients that died, that was your nephew abusing patient’s trust and vulnerability to kill them. And not as an angel of mercy as he would like to argue he was. No, he did it because he enjoyed having power over them, control over life and death and because he didn’t see their lives as worthwhile. And you know who figured that out?” asked Mulder stepping forward so he was eye to eye with the sheriff. “One of the FBI’s finest.”

Mulder turned and left to check on Scully.

Mulder walked in to the treatment room, to see a young man bandaging Scully’s knee.

“I can’t believe it. I mean we use to make jokes, you know, all of us on the nursing staff did. We used joke about how he was kind of creepy and mean, and he didn’t seem to be the right type of person to be a nurse, but none of thought that…I mean I wanted to be a nurse, because I thought it was a profession where I could make a difference, where I could help people. I just can’t imagine.”

Mulder saw Scully smile down at the young man. “Most people who enter the medical profession are like you, they want to help, but there are a few who think otherwise. I remember reading about some of them while I was in med school - doctors and nurses who would use their position, not to heal, but to murder. Unfortunately, hospitals often turn a blind eye to suspicious behavior. Most of the time we don’t even hear about these type of murderers even though they often end up killing far more people than the most notorious serial killers.”

“Well, I think I’m all done here. Do need anything else Doctor?”

“No, I’m good. Thank you.”

The young man walked past Mulder as he departed. Mulder stood there in the doorway looking at his partner. The pale skin along her jaw was turning purple as a nasty bruise began to form. He knew she had cuts on her back from broken glass. The doctor, who had examined her, mentioned a hairline fracture in one of her ribs. One of her knees was skinned and her body was covered with random cuts, scrapes and bruises.

“Are you going to come in or just linger in the doorway?”

He smiled. “You’re getting pretty good at being blind.”

She shook her head. “Not much to it. You’re wearing your cologne today.”

“Did I put on too much?”

“No, just the right amount – just enough to know where you are.” 

“Scully,” said Mulder, but then he sighed. There was something about his tone that told her there was something on his mind. “Scully, the work you did on this case was amazing. I never would have figured it out. I would have been focused on the paranormal and missed the serial killer in sheep’s clothing…”

“Thank you, but something’s bothering you,” she said as she felt him approach and sit next to her.

Mulder sighed. “I am worried about you. I see what he did to you. The cuts, the scrapes, the bruises. I value your work on the X-Files, you know I do, but I don’t want you to stay on if it means that I’m setting you up to become the next victim.”

“Mulder,” Scully reached out toward Mulder until she found his arm, she then followed it down until she had clasped one of his hands. “Only one of these wounds, the skinned knee, comes from being blind. All the others, I could have just have easily gotten on any other X-Files.”

“Scully...”

But she cut him off, “You just catalogued my wounds here. Shall I catalogue the wounds that I got at the hands of Donnie Pfaster, because trust me those were worse? Mulder, I am going to get hurt. I did before and I will again. During my time on the X-files I’ve been threaten by a liver eating mutant who can fit himself through my heat register, gone on a date with a guy with a psychotic tattoo, shot by a man who was aging backwards, and almost killed by a fat-sucking vampire. I’ve been threatened by ‘Moth Men,’ a psychotic talking doll, desiccating fireflies, and possessed house cats. And drugged by a very cute sheriff, who OK, might possible have been a vampire, but definitely did not have bucked teeth. I’ll be fine.” 

Mulder couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Mulder, it’s life on the X-Files. My being blind hasn’t changed the nature of our work. But more than anything, after tonight, I realized that this is what I want to be doing with my life. We can make a difference doing this, and there is no reason, even now, that I can’t help.” 

Mulder smiled and wrapped his arms around Scully and gave her a hug. 

“I’ll never doubt you again,” he said warmly. “Shall we head out? If we catch a flight back tonight, we might still have a chance to investigate that case about the piece of French toast with an image of the Virgin Mary on it.” 

Mulder smiled as he saw Scully roll her eyes. They stood up and she took Mulder’s arm.

“Oh, and by the way Scully … he most definitely had buck teeth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Years ago, (actually more like a decade or two at this point - gosh time flies) I read an X-Files fan fiction with the reverse scenario (that is Mulder was blind and Scully had been scarred by a bomb). That fan fiction is located here http://blindfic.xphilefic.com/iafpro.html and it definitely inspired this work and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed this work (they are different stories and different writing styles, but I still feel like if you like this work you might like this other story too). And to that author thank you for the inspiration!


End file.
